[Mageia-dev] Why is AHCI statically compiled into kernel?

[R James]

I remember when PATA (IDE) drivers were statically compiled into the
kernel, then we went to modular IDE which I liked because modprobe ordering
could be controlled. (When dealing with parity RAID, its nice to have
logical drive enumeration because SATA ports don't have UUID labels.)

But now it seems we've come full circle:

[root at localhost ~]# grep SATA_AHCI /boot/config-3.8.1-desktop-1.mga3
CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y
CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_PLATFORM=y

Is there a compelling reason to do this (other than AHCI is popular)?

I'm putting together a home-brewed a file server using an old motherboard
plus a couple of add-in SATA controllers. With the Mageia stock kernel, the
enumeration looks like:

sda = RAID disk 08 (ahci)
sdb = RAID disk 09 (ahci)
sdc = RAID disk 10 (ahci)
sdd = RAID disk 11 (ahci)
sde = Mageia OS (sata_nv) (1st port on mobo)
sdf = RAID disk 01 (sata_nv)
sdg = RAID disk 02 (sata_nv)
sdh = RAID disk 03 (sata_nv)
sdi = RAID disk 04 (sata_sil)
sdj = RAID disk 05 (sata_sil)
sdk = RAID disk 06 (sata_sil)
sdl = RAID disk 07 (sata_sil)

Of course its no problem to re-compile the kernel with AHCI as a module so
I can modprobe it last. Just wondering why AHCI is now the exception to
modular sata...?

Thanks -- RJ
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </pipermail/mageia-dev/attachments/20130305/72339886/attachment-0001.html>